Sherry Peel Jackson

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Statement of Sherry Peel Jackson concerning the July 27, 2004 raid on her home:

About 7:30am Eastern Standard Time on July 27, 2004, I was in my office reading and responding to E-mails while my husband and two children were asleep. Suddenly, I heard loud knocking at my front door. I ran up the stairs as my husband ran down the stairs from the bedroom level. There were several people at the door. Each of them in my viewing range were wearing black vests and had guns drawn.

We had just gotten the locks changed and I did not have my new keys handy. My husband had to go into the kitchen and get his set of keys while they continued to scream for us to let them in. He finally got the keys and opened the door. They rushed in and announced that this was a federal raid and my husband asked for the search warrant. The head agent, Wesley Cooper, handed my husband the warrant. There were two DeKalb county police officers escorting the IRS-CID agents in. I could never get an accurate count of the agents because they rushed in as we were told to go into our dining room.

One of the agents asked if there was anyone else in the house. I told them my children were upstairs asleep. They told me to go wake them up, and one of the agents escorted me upstairs. I opened my 14-year-old son's door first and told him to come here. He came into the hall and I then opened my 11-year-old daughter's door. I initially told my son to get into the bed with my daughter so that they would not have to come downstairs. However, the agent that was with me told me that the children had to come downstairs. They would not let us leave the dining room. One of the agents asked us if there were any weapons in the house. As I was saying, "I am not answering any questions," my husband was saying "no". I realized that we were going to have to get on one accord in order for this not to be a disaster. There were certain things that I picked up over the years to say or not to say during a raid, and he did not know these things.

They made all of us sit in the dining room for a while, as me and my husband read the warrant. About 8:25am they moved us into the den and told us that we could watch TV. My son decided to read a book and my daughter tried to go back to sleep. They told me that I could get dressed, as I had on only a T-shirt. My husband asked could he shower and they said no, he could just change clothes. He then asked could he brush his teeth and they said yes, but we could only go upstairs one at a time. I was escorted into my bedroom where I grabbed a pair of jeans. I searched through my closet and found a specific T-shirt. The front of the shirt says www.861.info. The back of the shirt says www.861.info Are you ready for the truth. I put this shirt on, went back downstairs and sat on a stool with my back to the agent that was in the den. The other agents were scrambling around my house. One agent was carefully walking around our backyard. He must have been looking for signs of burial of any records out there.

When I came down they let my husband go up and brush his teeth. They asked if the kids wanted to change, but I said no because I did not want them to go upstairs without one of us going also. So they stayed. They told me that I could fix breakfast, but no one was hungry.

Prior to our entry into the den, they had pulled to sofa sheets off and sloppily put them back. One of the agent's radios was on top of the sofa sheet, and I pushed it off onto the ground as I fixed the sofa sheets back the way they were originally.

In the den, I started reading the warrant again and noticed that most of the names on the warrant were the ones in the We The People Foundation lawsuit that had been filed on July 19th. However, I realized that they had this investigation going on way before July 19th. Things asked about or discussed in the warrant, specifically the 18-month plan to eliminate the IRS, are very outdated. They did not mention the current 9-month plan to eliminate the IRS.

I noticed that my husband had his cell phone. Therefore, I asked him for it and called directory assistance to get the number to Bob Schulz at We The People Foundation. When that didn't work, I called directory assistance for Larken Rose. I got through to Larken and told him what was happening. Larken told me that they could image my computers without taking them, so I told the agents that they can't take my computers, they can only image them. Larkin's wife, who was also on the line, told me that if I leave the house I can't come back. One of the agents noticed that I was on the phone while I had my back turned t them. He went to tell the agent in charge and the area director. One of the agents, the area director, said that I could not make any phone calls and that I could leave and make these calls if I wanted. Larken's wife had just told me on the phone that if any of us left we would not be let back in. My husband asked the area director if I left to make my calls could I come back. The area director said yes. When the area director left the room my husband asked the agent that was left the same question. That agent said that I would not be permitted back onto the premises. My husband asked whether the area director was a new agent. The agent in the room with us said he was not at liberty to discuss any of that. I asked my husband to stop talking to them.

Larken asked if I was recording this and I told him no. He told me to try to get our camcorder and record. I told Larken to contact neighbors with camcorders and I have him neighbors phone numbers. I stood up and asked for my camcorder, which was in the kitchen. The agent in charge said that I could not record this. The agent in charge then said we could let the children go into another room while he read us our rights. We said no, the children stay. I knew that my husband did not know how to answer to this reading and might say yes. Therefore, I got up and walked over to him as Wesley Cooper was reading the rights. When Cooper said, "do you understand these rights?" I said, "No- I do not consent to this situation." My husband did not say anything. About five minutes later Mr. Cooper came back into the den and asked my husband did he understand these rights because he did not answer before. My husband said no.

Larken called back about an hour later and said at least two people were taping the scene outside. I moved to where I could see the front door and one agent was standing outside on the porch with his arms folded. Eventually, I counted 12 or 13, but I could never see all of them at one time.

At 9:05 we were still sitting in the den. Cooper came in and said because we have so many computers they would not be able to image all of them, so they would have to take some. He asked which ones I used for business and I told him. They eventually ended up taking my husband's laptop and one of his desktops, and one of my two laptops. My husband told them that he does not use his computers for business.

At 10:20 Cooper and the other guard agent were in the den with us chatting about the weather, baseball then football. Someone was in the kitchen snapping pictures.

Time moved on and my son eventually asked could he go over his friend's house. At about 10:35 am I called the children's Godparents. The children then went upstairs to get their toothbrushes, and my son went into the playroom to get his play station. By 10:45 the Godparents were there to pick up the children.

The agents spent a lot of time in the kitchen and a lot of pictures were being taken. I could not see what was going on in there. I stood about 10 feet from each agent assigned to sit in the room with us. I stared at them in the face the entire time, no matter which agent was there. I was praying for them.

At 11:15, after the business phone rang several times, I thought to go pick it up. Looking at the caller ID I saw Larry Becraft's name. I picked up the phone and started telling him what was going on. The area director agent said, "If that is not your attorney you need to get off the phone." I told him very loudly "this is my attorney!" After I talked to Becraft, Charlie Beall called and I talked to him a minute. The agent again said, "you need to get off the phone if that is not my attorney."

Larry Becraft told me to say nothing and to take inventory after they are gone because they are not very specific in the lists that they leave behind.

They had a supply case that they brought in to my home. I don't know what was in this case, but Cooper was taking things out of the case and other agents were also. I wonder if they were planting things in my home.

Now, 12:07pm they started bringing boxes of my DVD's upstairs as well as other boxes. As I moved toward the middle of the room so that I could see the basement door, the guard agent told me that we could get an inventory of everything they take. Then he thought about what he said - EVERYTHING WE TAKE. I was already staring at him in the eyes and he looked down.

At 2:00pm they were still boxing up stuff. They brought up lots of boxes and were putting them in the dining room. All of my DVD's had been brought upstairs.

During the 3:00 hour they moved us out of the den into the playroom so that they could search the den. I could see one guy in the dining room with a computer. He was logging in an inventory of what was in the boxes.

At 4:00pm they are still running up and down the stairs to the basement. At 4:05 they brought me the money that they had found. There was $660 in an envelope in a binder in the basement. This was registration money for my seminar in Clive, Iowa August 7th. They took the binder but left the money. I initialed that I had received that money and put "without prejudice" next to my initials. Next, they brought me the $25 that was in my purse. I did the same type initialing with that money.

At 4:37 pm they filmed the playroom. First they asked us if we wanted to go back into the den. Colin went into the den and I stayed in the playroom as the film guy recorded the playroom.

The house was extremely junky, as this was a Tuesday and our clean up day is Wednesday. There were piles of clothes all over the place upstairs, and the kitchen was a royal mess. I am glad we were so junky because they missed over a lot of stuff. I believe that they were overwhelmed with the amount of STUFF that was in our home.

At 4:55 the computer guy had shut down and put away his computer, but Cooper made him plug it back in because evidently he left something off of the inventory list. They printed off a revised list and then gave it to us. They stated that if there was anything that we needed back immediately to call. Cooper left his card.

The next day I called for my planner, our bills and my check register. I do not have either as of noon July 30, 2004. The attorneys said not to call them anymore.

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